New Date Set In David Creato's Murder Trial Of 3-Year-Old Son

Haddon Township, NJ -- The trial for a Haddon Township man accused of killing his 3-year-old son will begin on Jan. 9, 2017, the Philly Voice reports.

The murder trial of David Creato was originally scheduled to begin on Monday, Oct. 3, but Judge John Kelley instead set the new trial date during a status conference.

Creato's attorney Richard Fuschino Jr. requested the delay so he could obtain a report from a forensic medical examiner, according to the Courier Post.

Kelley said this will be "a firm trial date," and Fuschino said a delay is "the last thing you want" when someone is in custody, according to the report.

David Creato is currently incarcerated on $750,000 bail.

Fuschino didn't identify the forensic medical examiner he is consulting to media following the conference. He has been critical of Camden County Medical Examiner Dr. Gerald Feigin, who didn’t respond to the scene of Brendan Creato’s death as soon as his body was discovered.

He used that failure as the grounds for requesting the case be dismissed. However, Kelley denied that motion in June, saying Feigin not responding to the scene immediately, as required by state law, was not enough to have the case dismissed.

Fuschino has argued that by the time Feigin responded to the scene the weekend after Brandon Creato's body was discovered, the scene had become contaminated.

He went on to say a thorough investigation wasn’t done by the Medical Examiner’s Office, and as a result, Brendan Creato’s death was determined to be homicide of undetermined etyiology.

Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah argued that Feigin didn’t do anything wrong, and that the cause of death was reached by exclusion, wherein any other possible cause of death other than homicide was ruled out.

Shah didn't comment to reporters following Monday's conference, according to reports.

The trial is now scheduled to begin almost one year to the day after Creato was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child in the death of his son. He was indicted on Jan. 12, 2016.

Brendan Creato was last seen at 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2015, when his grandmother dropped him off at his father’s house.

The following morning, David Creato reported his son missing, calling 911 and telling authorities, “I just woke up and my 3-year-old’s missing.”

A K-9 unit from the Delaware River Port Authority Police Department tracked the child to a wooded area off South Park Drive in Haddon Township, where he was found deceased shortly before 9 a.m., three hours after he was reported missing.

The prosecution says David Creato killed his son because his girlfriend, a college student, didn’t like children.

The prosecution’s evidence includes 9,478 text messages exchanged between the two, and legal analysts have said motive is a key part of the prosecution’s case. They also believed David Creato’s state of mind could become a basis for the defense.

A Mass will be held at Holy Savior Church in Westmont to mark the one-year anniversary of Brendan Creato's death on Oct. 15 at 5 p.m., according to philly.com.